


lost in translation

by Fluffifullness



Series: Tumblr MakoHaru Festival [6]
Category: Free!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Nonverbal Communication, Prompt Fic, Revenge, Tumblr: makoharufestival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-09 16:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1148174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffifullness/pseuds/Fluffifullness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Haru finally gets tired of always being on the receiving end of Makoto’s so-called “mind reading,” he decides to give his boyfriend a little taste of his own medicine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	lost in translation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "mind reader" challenge of the [makoharu festival on tumblr](http://makoharufestival.tumblr.com/). It seemed like a good time to post at least one of my completed works, what with _Free!_ fandom losing its shit all over tumblr. I post this with the continuing hope that we're lookin' at a second season. ;)
> 
> Update: ~~_Hell yeah, we got a second season!_~~ This fic has also been [posted on tumblr](http://makoharufestival.tumblr.com/post/74644707564/challenge-mind-reader-user-fluffifullness?utm_medium=email&utm_source=html&utm_campaign=submission_published&utm_term=respond_link). ;)

It hadn’t been all that big a deal, really.

They’d all been sort of hyped up after an especially successful joint practice, and Nagisa had been extra obsessed with getting every member of their little group to join in on some conversation. Haru can’t remember exactly how it had started, but he knows that he’d been tired and looking forward to dinner at home, maybe with Makoto or maybe alone, and he had stubbornly refused to contribute much to the talk.

Rin’s friend had been there, which Nagisa naturally couldn’t help making a big deal of – “Ah! Ai-chan hasn’t seen Mako-chan translate for Haru-chan yet!” and so on – until Makoto finally gave in with a little apologetic smile. That might’ve been fine if he had made just one or two little mistakes – or put an end to it despite Nagisa’s perpetual enthusiasm – but that’s never how it goes with Makoto. He was so close to right most of the time that it was almost as good as Haru answering everything himself.

There are the fact-based questions, and that’s one thing – but add to that anything about a thought or opinion and the fact that Makoto can usually take a single look and just _know –_ it reaches levels of ridiculousness that can be hard to tolerate.

After a while, Nagisa had asked why Haru looked like he was suddenly in a bad mood.

Makoto immediately stopped walking to concentrate on his boyfriend. Haru glared right back, this time actually meaning to convey something intentionally – and Makoto blushed, sheepishly ducked his head, green eyes downcast.

“Sorry about that, Haru…”

 

He refused to explain that to the rest of their teammates, but the bottom line was that Makoto still knew. He and Haru both – how frustrating it was and is to be that much like an open book, the wondering how boring or simple he must be if that’s all it takes to figure him out. And it feels almost like a breach of privacy – even though it’s only Makoto, and Makoto’s done a lot more than just guess his thoughts from time to time.

Doesn’t matter. The irritation sticks with Haru into the next day. So he comes to a decision.

When Makoto comes to meet him for their walk to school, Haru’s already up and making breakfast for both of them. He answers the door way more promptly than he would on most days, and he even smiles a little as he steps aside to let Makoto in.

“What’s up, Haru-chan? Did something good happen?”

Haru shakes his head and silently returns to the kitchen.

Makoto makes a little sound of curiosity and follows him there. He doesn’t go to sit down in the dining room, instead choosing to hover nearby, hands buried awkwardly in his pockets.

“I don’t need help,” Haru says when he hears Makoto draw a breath to speak.

“Ah – alright,” Makoto murmurs, surprised. “You aren’t mad, are you? About yesterday?”

Haru twitches involuntarily. “…No,” he mutters.

There’s a quick exhalation like Makoto’s trying not to laugh, and that’s how he knows – again – that Makoto’s already perfectly aware of what he’s up to.

He sighs and finally turns the burner on the stove all the way down. “You haven’t eaten yet,” he instructs Makoto, “so go sit down. I’ll be there in a second.”

“Do you–”

“I already made tea,” Haru interrupts again. “And rice,” when Makoto starts to say something else.

The taller boy is left uncharacteristically flustered through most of breakfast and the trip to Iwatobi High.

 

Their morning classes don’t give Haru many more opportunities to mess with Makoto. They have just enough time in between subjects to talk pretty straightforwardly about their plans for the rest of the day; Rei’s a bit late to school because of a doctor’s appointment, but he’ll definitely be back in time for practice – things like that. Haru doesn’t mind just talking to Makoto, but he also doesn’t want Makoto to think of their exchange at breakfast as the end of this.

Or – maybe he does?

When the bell rings for lunch, Makoto is the first of the two to lean back and loosen his tight muscles with a stretch. Haru watches that with interest before putting his head down on his arms and smiling. The element of surprise – he likes it already. Makoto turns to talk to him, all smiles, and Haru reciprocates the expression.

“I remembered to bring one today,” he says casually – and with timing that should be just right.

Makoto gives him a confused look.

“Lunch,” Haru clarifies.

“Y-yeah, I guessed that,” Makoto stammers after another moment of bewildered silence. “How did you –?”

“Ah – Nagisa,” Haru greets the blonde mid-sentence and with slightly more enthusiasm than he’d normally have (assuming he’d even greet him at all).

“Mako-chan, Haru-chan! Oh? Mako-chan, you look like you just saw a ghost! Was there a hard test or something?”

Haru hides his smile; this is exactly the kind of situation he’s been waiting for. “The feeling’s kind of like that,” he says before Makoto can open his mouth. “Only more confusing. Actually, you came before he could say anything about it. Makoto?”

The brunette jumps a little and gives Haru a deer-in-headlights kind of look. “Uh – it was… just a passing thought” – he turns pink and looks down at his hands – “guess I don’t need to say it now, though, huh?”

Nagisa’s hands hit the surface of Makoto’s desk simultaneously and loudly, effectively startling him into sitting more upright and returning all of his attention to the blonde – who, of course, just stands there giving Makoto a hugely intense look of curiosity for another moment or two before he speaks.

“Hey, is this like what you do with Haru-chan? Or – could it be that you’re both just trying to play a trick on me?” He turns briefly back to Haru. “Haru-chan, that’s so mean! Don’t make Mako-chan look so stressed out! Also, definitely don’t lie to your friends!”

“No one’s lying to anyone,” Haru responds coolly. “And Makoto’s not stressed out.” He glances at Makoto – hoping to pick up on more than just what he thinks he can infer – and is surprised to meet his boyfriend’s eyes, wide but gradually relaxing as the bewilderment fades into quiet understanding and – resignation?

“What’s that look for,” Haru mutters irritably. He’s the first to turn away.

“Hmmm, so Haru-chan’s still not as good at it as Mako-chan, is he? That’s a shame.”

Makoto laughs. “I don’t think that’s quite right.” He looks at Haru. “He’s pretty spot-on.”

“…”

“It’s only fair,” he adds.

“Huh? Did something happen?” Nagisa inquires.

“No,” Haru snaps. He gives Makoto a warning look: _keep your mouth shut this time._

Makoto nods and shrugs and smiles – and all of it without looking anything like he’s trying too hard – before rising to his feet. “We should eat before it gets too late. Nagisa, was Rei supposed to be eating lunch at school today?”

“Oh, Rei-chan? Well, he said he might miss the first few minutes, but he promised to meet us at the usual place as soon as he gets here.” Nagisa flexes the muscles in his upper arm melodramatically and says, “I told him to make sure he does, or else!”

“Or else what?” Makoto laughs.

Haru just sighs and gets ready to follow the others up to the roof. He keeps an eye on Makoto, but all he manages to gather from the way he carries himself and the look on his face is that he’s enjoying something really interesting. Like a game, kind of, but that’s not quite it either.

He really _isn’t_ stressed by this at all, Haru decides. He doesn’t know if he likes it, but he thinks that if it makes Haru happy – if it makes up for upsetting him before – he can handle putting up with it for as long as Haru still has the resolve to keep it up. It even makes him a little happy – because to him, being read so clearly isn’t anything as overbearing or insulting as it sometimes _(sometimes)_ is to Haru.

 

Nagisa calls Rei over even before the guy has a chance to announce his own arrival. Haru’s not nearly as sure about Rei – about anyone – as he is about Makoto, but it doesn’t look to him like he minds the interruption all that much. He just smiles and waves and sits down with a polite greeting – no scolding involved. He doesn’t even flinch when Nagisa hooks his arms around him and launches a tirade of questions about what he was getting checked out for and did he choke on that popsicle stick thing and he’s not sick or anything, right?

“Your arms are too tight, Nagisa-kun…”

“Ah! Sorry,” Nagisa says without letting go. Haru can’t tell if he even loosens his grip.

Rei sighs. “It was just a routine check-up. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. And no,” he adds, “I didn’t choke on the tongue depressor.”

“The what?” Nagisa wonders with a sly grin.

“The ‘popsicle stick,’” Rei groans, exasperated.

Nagisa giggles and presses impossibly closer to Rei. “Rei-chan definitely choked on it,” he says.

“I did not!”

Makoto’s cheeks light up pink. “Jeez, you two… get a room…”

Rei scrambles for an eloquent response to that, but he can’t seem to get it out over the enthusiastic laughter of Nagisa – and he shuts right up when the blonde ultimately pulls him down to kiss his cheek.

Haru and Makoto exchange amused smiles before Nagisa adjusts his position enough to grin at both of them, and –

“If Rei-chan and I have to get a room, Haru-chan and Mako-chan need at least ten! A whole house” – he laughs – “‘cause the only kind of couple that can read each other’s minds like that is definitely married!”

 

The comment leaves Makoto a blushing mess up until the bell rings for them to go back to class. Haru readily considers continuing where he left off before lunch, but he thinks better of it – he doesn’t need to read Makoto’s mind to know that he’s really embarrassed. A little happy – but still embarrassed. Haru’s mad, sure, but not _that_ mad, so he resolves to leave him alone.

Of course, by the time practice rolls around, he actually has to actively restrain himself from responding aloud to some of the things Makoto hasn’t even said. He’s frustrated, too; he’s missed one opportunity too many. It feels kind of like he’s failed to follow through with this; it was only supposed to be for a day, after all.

So he makes up for it as soon as they’ve all made it to the pool’s locker room.

Nagisa’s talking about some movie he wants to rent, and Rei is torn between listening to him and asking Makoto what their training today is supposed to include. Makoto’s entirely calmed down; he’s not having any problems accommodating Rei’s distracted spurts of conversation and then silence, though he does keep glancing curiously at Haru.

“You’re wondering if I’m done,” Haru guesses.

“Well, yeah,” Makoto admits as Rei turns to correct Nagisa on some technicality of horror filmmaking.

“…actually put a lot of thought into how music and sound play into the atmosphere. Using stock effects on a regular basis would just detract from…”

Haru studies Makoto for another moment. “You don’t know what you prefer, do you?”

“You’ve got me there. I’m used to it on a smaller scale, but it’s a little more aggressive and… mmm, ‘open’ might be the word I’m looking for. You’re a lot more talkative than usual today.” Makoto smiles. “I like that. And I also –”

“Haruka-senpai, Makoto-senpai – is something wrong?” Rei sighs and waves Nagisa forward. “Sorry about lunch. I told Nagisa-kun that it was uncalled-for –”

“Rei-chan, you’re such a worrywart! See, Mako-chan’s already fine!”

“You should apologize, too, Nagisa-kun!”

“Ah – no,” Makoto breaks in, “it really is fine. You don’t need to worry about it.”

Haru nods. “We weren’t talking about that. Makoto was just going to say that he actually likes showing off a little.”

The effects are almost immediate. Makoto stiffens and hides most of his face behind his hand, but it’s not enough to hide the rush of blood to his head. He looks like a lobster.

“ _Haru…!_ ”

Rei looks bewilderedly from person to person and raises both of his own hands as if he means to calm someone down – he just can’t seem to figure out who needs it the most; Nagisa is suddenly bouncing around from one person to another, eyes wide and bright with curiosity, Makoto’s almost worse now than he’d been at lunch, and Haru probably looks like he’s just carried out some devious plan. The guilt he feels is minimal next to the tiny glow of accomplishment.

Nagisa is the first to follow Makoto’s exclamation up with complete sentences.

“What does that mean? Hey, Mako-chan what does that mean? Showing off what? To Rei-chan and me?”

Haru’s turn to blush. “Can you answer that one, Makoto?”

“I-i-it’s nothing,” Makoto stammers. “I just – Haru’s right,” he blurts, and then sinks back into a doe-eyed silence.

“Yeah, but what’s Haru-chan talking about?” Nagisa persists. “Mako-chan!”

“The – the mind reading thing,” Makoto says, his voice shrinking to a near whisper. “I wouldn’t call it showing off, but I don’t mind letting close friends see Haru and I like that…”

“‘Like that?’ Makoto-senpai, you’ve already said that you and Haruka-senpai are in a –”

“No, not like that,” Makoto says more loudly this time. “Like – with a strong connection. Something not everyone has.”

Nagisa giggles. “That’s because it’s only for married –”

“Nagisa-kun!”

Haru stares resolutely at the floor in front of him. “So that’s how it is. Just because he’s embarrassed about it doesn’t mean he can’t also like it.”

Rei nods slow understanding. “Um – sure,” he says. “Shall we go, then?”

“Gou-chan’s probably getting tired of waiting!” Nagisa agrees.

Haru’s hardly even disappointed by the fact that the conversation more or less ends there.

 

Later that night, Makoto catches Haru on his way out of the bath. His own hair is wet and sticking out like he only bothered to towel it off a little bit before coming over, so Haru guesses that he must have been eager to talk; he takes him by the hand and leads him down the hall to his bedroom.

“Don’t you want to change into some real clothes first?”

“This is fine,” Haru decides without even sparing a glance at his still-wet jammers. He gestures at the bed and waits for Makoto to sit down first. Then he plops down beside him and leans in for a kiss.

Makoto hesitantly grants him one, but as soon as they’ve broken apart he’s back to studying him worriedly.

“Are you still mad?”

Haru shrugs. He’s surprised Makoto even has to ask. “I stopped being mad a while ago.”

“But you’re still not completely satisfied,” Makoto surmises.

Haru takes a moment to nod.

Makoto sighs and pulls him in closer. The water from Haru’s jammers starts to soak into the sweatpants Makoto’s wearing – just a little, so Haru has to wonder if Makoto can feel it, if it bothers him.

“About how I can always guess what you’re thinking… It’s because you’re kind of like a kid, Haru-chan.”

“How?!”

Makoto stifles a short chuckle and runs a hand abstractedly through Haru’s dripping hair. “Sorry, sorry. I don’t mean it as an insult. You’re just really obvious about a lot of things.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Haru mutters. After all, it’s not like anyone else seems to see the same things Makoto does. He’s the only one who can do stuff like that, so if Haru were really that “obvious” –

“It’s just that I know what to look for,” Makoto explains with a teasing grin.

“Then it’s not obvious!” Haru snaps. He puts a little more distance between himself and Makoto and glares stubbornly at him. “You’re just too observant!”

“Or I know you too well,” Makoto says, his smile softening by degrees until he’s back to looking nothing if not harmless.

“And it’s not like you’ve never surprised me,” he adds after a moment. Haru tries to maintain his angry glare, but he can’t as long as he’s still looking at Makoto – so he looks away, over at the opposite wall. “You do that all the time. Starting a swim club with us, swimming the relay” – his voice growing fonder with every passing second – “what you said in the hotel at regionals.”

“I – I meant that,” Haru says quickly.

“Thanks, Haru-chan.”

“It – it’s nothing…”

“I wasn’t expecting you to keep it up all day, either,” Makoto laughs. “I wasn’t even expecting you to start.”

Haru just nods.

“So you win this round,” Makoto concludes after a moment. “Okay?”

Haru considers that for a moment. He’d meant to surprise Makoto from the start; he knew already that he’d more than accomplished that. It’s not the point he was trying to prove – he can’t even remember exactly what that was anymore – but it’s good enough to sweeten this little bit of revenge. Maybe.

He nods again. “Okay.”

“And – point taken,” Makoto adds after they’ve both exchanged quick smiles. “The whole thing got a little unnerving sometimes. I probably can’t stop trying to guess what you’re thinking, but I can be a little more discreet about it. Scale it back. Deal?”

“Yeah, alright. Now” – Haru leans in close to Makoto again, smile now mischievous, hands at the hem of his boyfriend’s T-shirt –

“Eh?”

– one more sweet moment of revenge –

“It’s been a long day. Stop talking so much.”


End file.
